A conventional double-barreled shotgun is a shotgun with two parallel or slightly converging barrels, which allows two shots to be fired in quick succession. The barrels can be arranged in either a side-by-side or over/under configuration. Some conventional double-barreled shotguns use two triggers, one for each barrel. These are commonly located front to back inside the trigger guard, with the index finger being used to pull either trigger. This approach has the disadvantage that some users struggle to fire two triggers quickly, especially in stressful situations. Instead, they pull the same trigger twice in error, which results in only one round being fired. To address this problem, other conventional double-barreled shotguns use a single trigger that alternately fires both barrels, called a Single Trigger (ST). The ST does not allow firing both barrels at once; the single trigger must be pulled twice in order to fire both barrels. The change from one barrel to the other while shooting may be done by a clockwork type system, where a cam alternates between barrels, or by an inertial system, where the recoil of firing the first barrel toggles the trigger to the next barrel.
The term “bullpup” describes a firearm configuration in which the action is located behind the trigger group and alongside the shooter's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs. This permits a shorter firearm length for the same barrel length for improved maneuverability, and reduces weight. Because the trigger group is positioned in front of the action, a trigger linkage is required to connect the trigger group to the action.
A conventional pump-action shotgun is one in which the handgrip or forend can be pumped back and forth in order to cycle the action to eject a spent round of ammunition and to chamber a fresh one. A pump-action shotgun is typically fed from a tubular magazine underneath the barrel, which also serves as a guide for the movable forend. The rounds are fed in one by one through a port in the receiver, where they are lifted by a lever called the shell carrier and are pushed forward into the chamber by the bolt. A pair of latches at the rear of the magazine hold the rounds in place and facilitate feeding of one shell at a time.
The forend is connected to the bolt by one or two bars (two bars are considered more reliable because they provide symmetric forces on the bolt and pump and reduce the chances of binding). The motion of the bolt back and forth in a tubular magazine model will also operate the shell carrier, which lifts the shells from the level of the magazine to the level of the barrel. Modern pump-action shotgun designs have a safety feature called a trigger disconnector, which disconnects the trigger from the sear as the bolt moves back, so that the trigger must be released and pulled again to fire the shotgun after it closes.
After firing a round, the bolt is unlocked and the forend is free to move. The shooter pulls back on the forend to begin the operating cycle. The bolt unlocks and begins to move to the rear, which extracts the empty shell from the chamber, cocks the hammer, and lowers the carrier to eject empty shell and to align its lifting forks to the magazine tube. In a tubular magazine design, as the bolt reaches the rear, a single shell is released from the magazine, and is pushed backwards to come to rest on the shell carrier forks.
As the forend begins to move forward, the shell carrier lifts up the shell, lining it up with the barrel chamber. As the bolt moves forward, the round slides into the chamber, and the final portion of the forend's travel locks the bolt into position. A pull of the trigger will fire the next round, where the cycle begins again.
An example of a double-barreled shotgun that allows both actions to be actuated together by a pair of forearm members when the forearm members are pumped simultaneously is U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,846 to Ledford. Ledford permits the forearm members to be pumped individually so that only a single barrel is reloaded. However, this is disadvantageous when the user is trying to pump both forearm members simultaneously. If both forearm members are not pulled back fully so that the action fully cycles, one side could fail to eject the spent round from the breech and fail to load the next round. The preferred embodiment features two triggers located front to back within the trigger guard, with the associated disadvantages associated noted previously. Ledford discloses that optionally, a single trigger mechanism may be used to fire one or both shells at a time. Since Ledford ejects spent shells from the sides, there is a risk of the shooter being hit in the face by an ejecting shell. This risk would be magnified if Ledford were to somehow be converted into a bullpup configuration with a shortened buttstock.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved double-barreled bullpup pump-action shotgun with integrated actions that ensures proper simultaneous operation of both actions responsive to a single slide being pumped. In this regard, the various embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill at least some of these needs. In this respect, the double-barreled bullpup pump-action shotgun according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of having integrated actions that ensures proper simultaneous operation of both actions responsive to a single slide being pumped. The integrated action ejecting and loading two rounds with every slide pump allows for instant safety redundancy if the first action does not fire.